This week’s bird is the California scrub jay, a delightfully bright blue bird which lives along the Pacific coast from British Columbia in Canada down the west coast to Baja California in Mexico.  As one would expect, it prefers to … Continue reading The WPT Knows if You’re Watching

Howdy, friends. I’m working today and just couldn’t find the time to write a bird up this week. Fear not, I’ve got a couple of articles in the hopper that are sure to delight and amuse. In the meantime, please … Continue reading The WPT Recycles a Header

Our new friend this week is the long-tailed tit.  This bird is widely distributed throughout the palearctic, “a zoogeographical region comprising Eurasia north of the Himalayas, together with North Africa and the temperate part of the Arabian peninsula,” and does not migrate.  The bird … Continue reading The WPT Urges You Not to Giggle

Hi, everyone.  This week’s bird is the gray-crowned babbler.  This bird is fairly widespread in Australia, with a smaller population on the southern coast of New Guinea, straddling the border between Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.  It is the largest … Continue reading The WPT Goes by Many Names

Good morning, friends, and happy weekend. This week’s bird is the monk parakeet. I saw a few of these on my recent trip to Barcelona, but the pics I took weren’t really post-worthy. The monk parakeet is native to parts … Continue reading The WPT is Surprisingly Controversial

Hi friends. Your humble host is having a time. Nothing serious, but this is week five out of six straight where I spend all weekend travelling or hosting people. This week I am driving up to see Ma Killsock after … Continue reading The WPT Drags Its Butt

Howdy, friends.  Today’s bird is the greater prairie chicken or pinnated grouse.  This distinctive-looking bird used to be very common on the plains of North America.  Previously numbering well into the millions of individuals, relentless habitat loss pushed the prairie … Continue reading The WPT is Grousing 

Hi folks. Your old pal Dave is really busy these days, please enjoy a sampler of some seasonal birds. I’ve included names in each image caption so that nerds, if any, can look up birds and maybe learn something new. … Continue reading The WPT is a Smorgasbird

Howdy, friends.  This week’s bird is the green kingfisher.  This small, brightly colored bird is perfectly suited to its niche of hanging out along riverbanks and diving into the water to hunt.  Despite its coloration, it blends well with its … Continue reading The WPT Makes Sci Fi Noises

This week’s bird is the house finch.  Originally native to Mexico and the southwestern US, it is now a year-round native throughout both countries, including on Hawaii.  The house finch has shown itself to be very adaptable, and the National … Continue reading The WPT goes by “Hollywood”

This week’s bird is the acorn woodpecker.  Its distinctive, laughing call is the basis for Woody Woodpecker’s laugh, although his appearance is based on the pileated woodpecker.  These birds live in oak forests along the west coast and southwest of … Continue reading The WPT is Branching Out

Howdy, friends. Your fearless host is at a bluegrass festival this weekend. I tried to find some info on birds in the part of the country where I will be staying, but instead of Cumberland, Maryland, I found a great … Continue reading The WPT is Groovin’ all Weekend

This week’s bird is the Inaccessible Island rail (IIR), named for the remote chunk of rock it calls home. It is the world’s smallest flightless bird, and for a long time scientists were baffled as to how a bird that … Continue reading The WPT is Theoretically Vulnerable to Cats

I’m having some weird problems with WordPress, with which I have lost patience for the moment. Have a hyacinth macaw and a good weekend! Continue reading The WPT invites WordPress to Bite It

Birds, right?  Lets get into it.  This week’s bird is the bar-headed goose.  This goose spends summers nesting around high altitude lakes in central Asia and migrates in the fall across the Himalayas into India for the winter, where it … Continue reading The WPT is Bar-Headed, Check it and See

Howdy, friends.  Gather ’round and hear about a fluffy little owl.  The morepork, named for its distinct call and enthusiasm for barbeque, is a small owl native to New Zealand.  The most interesting thing I learned about this week’s subject … Continue reading The WPT is Both Fluffy and Deadly

Howdy, folks. Dave here filling in for your friend and mine, Cordyceps. This is going to be a minimal header, but I have a reputation to maintain. Our mid-week mini bird post features the Black-headed tailorbird, native to the southeastern … Continue reading The Wednesday PT Fills In

Hi, friends. This week the weather has been nice in my neighborhood, so I searched birds and spring. I found the following fun stuff. Poems about birds courtesy of the Mecklenburg, NC chapter of the Audubon society: https://tinyurl.com/33fukk7p Tips on … Continue reading The WPT Welcomes Spring

Hi, everyone.  This week’s bird is the red-eared firetail.  This bird is a small, seed-eating finch that lives exclusively in the southwest corner of Australia.  The firetail tends to live in dense undergrowth near rivers, and in gullies and heaths.  … Continue reading The WPT is Discreet and Solitary

Happy weekend, all.  I hope everyone is managing to keep their wits about them in this crazy world we have going on.  The bird this week is the Andean cock-of-the-rock (ACOTR), suggested by mobster hobbit and friend of the PT … Continue reading The WPT Just Wants to Rock

Happy weekend, fellow kids.  This week’s bird is the crested caracara.  It is a large member of the falcon family found throughout central and south America, with recent sightings far north into the US and Canada.  There is a population … Continue reading The WPT is a Glacial Relict